Houston News

Proponents Tout Natural Gas at Houston Conference

by KTRH's Nik Rajkovic

The future of energy is the topic of discussion at Houston's Museum of Natural Science Thursday where investors, executives and policymakers are gathering for the first-ever Bloomberg Oil and Gas Conference.

Marty Durbin with America's Natural Gas Alliance says Texas is known for big oil, but the state also is spearheading the natural gas movement.

“You have what's called the Texas Triangle where you've got both the municipal fleets moving to natural gas, but more and more fueling stations where they can be refueled,” Durbin tells KTRH News.

The natural gas industry already supports nearly 1.3 million jobs in Texas, and contributes more than $100 billion a year to the state economy.

Durbin says there is potential for another million jobs created over the next 20 years and believes its only a matter of time before we're all driving natural gas vehicles.

“The industry is primed and ready to ramp up production even more as we see demand increase, and that's where ANGA is really focusing a lot of it's effort,” he says. “How do we make sure we can see demand increase even further in power generation, in manufacturing and in transportation?”

Durbin says its important the public knows natural gas is cheaper and more efficient, its just a matter of growing the infrastructure to support it moving forward.

“The entire city of Los Angeles has converted it's bus fleet to natural gas and now their emissions are 80-percent lower than they were before,” he says.